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Learning difficulties on Archimedes' Principle in the floating context

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the construction and validation of a multiple choice test to identify misconceptions of middle and high school students about the Archimedes' principle in the floating context. We have taken as a reference classical theory test; also, we described, the misconceptions identified during the analysis process. The test was implemented to a sample of 168 subjects from Spain and Colombia with different educational levels. The most significant results indicate that participants try to remember the mnemonic form application of the Archimedes' principle regardless forces analysis, and participants do not identify the two bodies interact and allow us to speak of the buoyant force. They consider that buoyant force depends the position of the submerged object.

Keywords
test; learning difficulties; Archimedes' principle

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